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The Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem

The Conservative Yeshiva offers Jews of all backgrounds the skills for studying Jewish texts in a supportive Jewish community. We are a vibrant, open-minded, fully egalitarian community of committed Jews who learn, practice, and grow together. Learning is lishma, for its own sake, without exams or papers. Learning in Judaism is a lifelong process, and the learning of traditional Jewish texts requires skills of language and methodology. Our goal is to give students the ability and the desire to continue Jewish learning and practice throughout their lives.

The Conservative Yeshiva offers a synthesis of traditional and critical methods, allowing Jewish texts and tradition to encounter social change and modern scholarship. The curriculum focuses on classical Jewish subjects, including Talmud, Tanach (Bible), Halacha (Jewish Law), and Philosophy.

Since its founding in 1995 to meet the need for serious learning in an co-educational and open-minded environment, the Conservative Yeshiva has grown ten-fold, moved into a new Beit Midrash, and established a reputation for a learned and supportive faculty, highly motivated students, in-depth learning, and a welcoming community.

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Shaiya Rothberg lives in Jerusalem with his wife and three sons, and teaches Bible, Jewish Philosophy and Kabbalah at the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem. He also directs the yeshiva’s Torah of Human Rights program. Outside the yeshiva, Shaiya is the chairperson of Haqel – Jews and Arabs in Defense of Human Rights. Shaiya’s teaching and writing focus on reconnecting to the basic symbols of Torah in order to explore the transformative potential of Jewish tradition.

Shaiya holds a PhD from Hebrew University in Jewish Thought. His doctorate, The Democratization of the Jewish Political Tradition – Rabbi Chaim Hirschensohn’s Political Thought and its Jewish Sources (Hebrew) is available here. Earlier, Shaiya received a B.A. in Jewish Philosophy and Talmud from Bar-Ilan University and also engaged in traditional yeshiva study at Machon Meir (88-89), Machon Pardes (89-90), HaMachon HaGavoah L’Torah (93-96),Machon Shalom Hartman (96-97), and the Kollel at the Conservative Yeshiva (2002-2012).

Shaiya grew up in New Jersey and made aliyah to Israel in 1988 at the age of 19. He served as a soldier and officer in the I.D.F.’s military government in Gaza from 1990-1993. After the military, Shaiya worked at The Adam Institute for Democracy and Peace as educational program developer and team-director for the religious sector (mamlachti dati).

Feel free to contact Shaiya at shaiyarothberg@gmail.com. Links to more of his writings can be found here.